Who Is Bert Girigorie? The Amazing Life Story of Wendy Williams’ First Husband

8 7 minutes read

Bert Girigorie is the sales and marketing professional who briefly became Wendy Williams’ first husband in the mid-1990s, long before the talk show host became a household name. Their marriage lasted only a few months, yet his name resurfaces every time fans revisit Wendy’s personal history. Away from the tabloids, Bert built a low-key but steady career and has spent the following three decades avoiding the spotlight almost entirely. This article looks at who he really is, from his upbringing in North Carolina to his working life today, drawing together the most reliable details available about a man who has deliberately kept his story out of the public eye.

Detailed Bio Table

Category	Details
Full Name	Bert Girigorie
Date of Birth	13 March 1964
Birthplace	Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Nationality	American
Profession	Sales and marketing professional
Known For	First husband of Wendy Williams
Education	Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Siblings	Gabrielle Girigorie, Bruce Girigorie
Spouse	Wendy Williams (married 1994, divorced 1995)
Marriage Duration	Approximately five months
Current Occupation	Founder and President, G2 Marketing Inc.
Current Residence	Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Children	None publicly known
Net Worth	Not officially confirmed; estimates vary

Early Life and Family Background

Bert Girigorie was born on 13 March 1964 in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was raised alongside two siblings, Gabrielle and Bruce Girigorie. Multiple profiles describe his upbringing as rooted in a close-knit, faith-centred household that placed heavy emphasis on discipline, education and personal responsibility.

These early family values are often cited as the foundation for the steady, low-drama career path he later chose, in sharp contrast to the high-profile media world his former wife would go on to dominate. Little else has been confirmed publicly about his childhood, as Bert has never given an interview detailing his formative years.

Charlotte remains closely tied to his identity even today. Several biographical write-ups note that he still resides in the city, having built both his personal and professional life there rather than relocating to New York or Los Angeles, where fame might have taken him.

Education

Bert Girigorie attended Morehouse College, the historically Black men’s college in Atlanta, Georgia, renowned for producing influential business leaders, politicians and public figures. His time there is frequently referenced as a key stepping stone that shaped his professional discipline and eventual move into sales and marketing.

Beyond confirming his attendance at Morehouse, publicly available sources offer little further detail about his specific course of study or campus involvement. This is consistent with his broader pattern of keeping personal information away from public record.

How Bert Girigorie Met Wendy Williams

Bert’s connection to fame began in the early 1990s, when he was working as an account executive at a New York City radio station. It was through this role that he crossed paths with a young Wendy Williams, who was building her own broadcasting career at the time.

According to several accounts, the pair dated for roughly two years, from 1992 to 1994, before deciding to marry. Reports describe a whirlwind courtship typical of two ambitious young professionals working in the fast-paced world of New York radio during that era.

Wendy later referenced the relationship in her 2001 memoir, “Wendy’s Got the Heat”, where she gave him the pseudonym Robert Morris III. She reflected that although the couple made an attractive pair in public, they ultimately were not suited for a long-term partnership, a sentiment that foreshadowed how quickly the marriage would unravel.

Marriage and Divorce

Bert Girigorie and Wendy Williams married in 1994, but the union proved to be remarkably short-lived. The couple separated after only around five months together and their divorce was finalised in 1995, making it one of the briefest marriages either party would ever be part of.

Bert has publicly suggested that Wendy’s struggles with substance abuse at the time contributed heavily to the breakdown of the relationship, a claim that aligns with Wendy’s own later, well-documented admissions about her past addiction issues during that period of her life. Wendy has never disputed that this chapter of her life was turbulent.

Following the split, both parties moved on in very different directions. Wendy went on to marry Kevin Hunter in 1997, a relationship that lasted more than two decades and produced her only child before ending in a highly publicised divorce finalised in 2020. Bert, by contrast, stepped back almost entirely from public view and has not spoken extensively about his romantic life since.

There is no public record of Bert Girigorie remarrying or having children in the years since his divorce from Wendy. He appears to have prioritised privacy over any continued association with his famous former spouse.

Career and Professional Life

Bert Girigorie’s professional path began in radio sales, where his role as an account executive at a New York station first brought him into contact with the broadcasting world that would later make Wendy famous. From there, he gradually shifted his focus towards the broader field of marketing.

Today, he is widely identified as the founder and president of G2 Marketing Inc., a Charlotte-based marketing and sales firm. Various profiles describe him as continuing to lead the company, applying decades of experience gained since his early days pitching advertising slots on the radio.

Unlike many people who briefly touch fame through a relationship, Bert never attempted to capitalise on his connection to Wendy Williams for career gain. Instead, he built a business grounded in consistent, unglamorous work rather than public recognition, and his professional reputation in Charlotte’s business community appears to rest on that track record rather than on his past marriage.

Reports on his current net worth vary and none are backed by official financial disclosures. Some estimates place his net worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, though these figures should be treated as informal approximations rather than confirmed facts, since Bert has never commented publicly on his earnings or business finances.

Life Away from the Spotlight

What stands out most about Bert Girigorie is his consistent choice to avoid public life. While Wendy Williams became one of American television’s most recognisable personalities, Bert deliberately built a quiet existence centred on his business and his privacy.

He maintains a limited public presence, with a Twitter profile describing him simply as a sales and marketing professional based in Charlotte, offering little insight into his personal life beyond his professional identity. He has given no major interviews about his marriage, his career or his private relationships since the divorce.

This approach has made him something of an enigma. Curiosity about his life tends to spike whenever Wendy Williams makes headlines, yet Bert himself has never used those moments to step forward or comment publicly, reinforcing an image of a man who genuinely prefers to be left alone.

Why People Still Search for Bert Girigorie

Bert Girigorie’s continued relevance online is almost entirely tied to his brief marriage to Wendy Williams. As one of the first chapters in her long and eventful personal history, their union remains a point of curiosity for fans piecing together her life before fame.

His story also resonates because it runs counter to the usual pattern of people who marry into celebrity circles. Rather than leaning into public attention, he walked away from it and built an independent, private career on his own terms, a decision that many readers find quietly admirable.

That contrast, a brief brush with fame followed by decades of intentional privacy, is likely the main reason his name continues to surface in articles, forums and search queries more than thirty years after his marriage ended.

Bert Girigorie’s Legacy and Public Perception

Bert Girigorie occupies an unusual place in celebrity culture. He is widely recognised by name yet almost entirely unknown as a person, since he has chosen never to expand on the version of his story that the public already has. This has allowed a somewhat one-dimensional picture to persist, built almost entirely around his marriage rather than the decades of work he has put in since.

Those who have followed his story closely tend to describe him as a reminder that fame by association does not have to define a person’s entire life. Where many individuals connected to celebrities lean into that attention through reality television, tell-all interviews or social media, Bert took the opposite route and quietly built something of his own.

His long tenure running G2 Marketing Inc. suggests a career built on client relationships and steady growth rather than headline-chasing ventures, the kind of professional consistency that rarely makes news but tends to earn respect within local business communities. In many ways, his legacy is less about a five-month marriage and more about three decades of deliberate, private stability.

Conclusion

Bert Girigorie’s public identity will likely always be tied to his brief marriage to Wendy Williams, but his life extends well beyond that five-month chapter. From his roots in Charlotte and his education at Morehouse College to his decades of steady work in sales and marketing, he represents a quieter story of consistency and privacy in a world that so often rewards the opposite.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is Bert Girigorie?

Bert Girigorie is an American sales and marketing professional from Charlotte, North Carolina, best known publicly as the first husband of talk show host Wendy Williams.

2. When was Bert Girigorie born?

He was born on 13 March 1964 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

3. How did Bert Girigorie meet Wendy Williams?

The two met in the early 1990s while Bert was working as an account executive at a New York City radio station where Wendy also worked.

4. When did Bert Girigorie and Wendy Williams get married?

They married in 1994 after dating for around two years.

5. Why did Bert Girigorie and Wendy Williams divorce?

The marriage ended after roughly five months, with Bert citing Wendy’s substance abuse issues at the time as a major factor. Their divorce was finalised in 1995.